Morning Bell: Cutting Recovery Off at the Knees

President Barack Obama travels to Macomb Community College in Michigan today where he will unveil $12 billion in aid to the nation’s community colleges. According to Politico, the President’s message will be that “in a competitive global economy, the country’s economic viability depends upon the education and skills of its workers, who will increasingly need to have college experience.” True enough, but who exactly does the President believe will be hiring all of these workers?

Cap-and-Trade: President Obama continues to try and sell his cap-and-trade plan as a job creation bill, but Michiganders know better. During a committee hearing on cap-and-trade this year, Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) explained: “Nobody in this country realizes that cap-and-trade is a tax — and it’s a great big one.” According to a Center for Data Analysis study, the economic costs of cap-and-trade by 2030 are: 1) reduced aggregate gross domestic product (GDP) of $7.4 trillion; 2) 844,000 jobs destroyed on average every year; and 3) a $1,500 raise in an average family’s annual energy costs.

The U.S. retail industry’s largest trade group, the National Retail Federation, sent a letter to their 2,500 members asking them to take a stand against Wal-Mart’s endorsement of employer-mandated health insurance.

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Every single day this mess is allowed to continue in Washington will make it that much more difficult to fix. It is very hard to comprehend how the communistic liberal party and their gang leaders have been allowed to weaken our country, tell our secrets and slowly destroy the economy, our defenses and the CIA.

I've seen so called republican leaders sell our the country right along with democrats, there really isn't much of a difference. Talking isn't the cure but only prolongs the agony.

I hate to say it but either a military coup with direct removal of these perpetrators or a citizens born REVOLUTION can stop this mess.

Mr. Obama is doing exactly what he promised to do, he is changing the country. If the main stream media and others had asked him some hard questions on how he intended to this, they might have heard things they didn't like. This administration is following the mantra of big government and an international system that will supercede our own Constitution. When will Americans wake up and see that our country and freedom is being sold out in the name of trans nationalism, socialism, and an over powering "nanny state" federal government. We still do not know how the President intends to pay for all this nonsense. If anyone believes that continuing to tax the so called rich will pay for all this garbage, they must be eating funny mushrooms. The top 1% already pay most of the taxes already. Small business owners who create most of the jobs will disappear if all his programs are passed the way he wants them. It is only a matter of time before they come after what is left of the middle class.

With oil prices at an 8 week low, the powers that be should look for ways to keep the prices down. I have signed a petition that will not only keep them down, but lower them even more. This will help speed up the economic recovery process. http://tinyurl.com/mh5p36

Every day in every way Obama marches on with his intention to destroy the American Economy. He has no intention, that is perceivable, to "fix", the economy; All his efforts are designed to bring about Socialism. And the Congress and people are sitting on the sidelines watching him and his cadre march over our lives on the way to replacing our Constitution with a Soviet style of government.

He is setting himself up as Comrade Chairman with his Politburo in the form of his appointed "Czars". By the time we can kick him and his ilk out of office, who knows what harm will have been done? Liberals who "worship" this man will also find themselves enslaved in his "Brave New World".

Our elected politicians are too self-serving and cowardly in their response to Obama who completely ignores anything they say and marches on to Socialistic victory in America.

This man does not stand for America; he is a devotee of "One World Socialism".

Goodbye to American Independence, unless America wakes up and realizes what a BAD PRESIDENT this man is!

Hooray for Dingell for calling a TAX a Tax, which is what Cap and Trade is all about.

I find it interesting that Obama wants money for 2 year colleges and he is going to try to say this with a smile on his face in Michigan with the highest unemployment in the nation.Our governor keeps taking money away from our colleges and universities. California which allows illegals to attend college at in state rates, has to keep borrowing monthly from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits.If the government officals were not so indebted to teachers unions for their political contributions perhaps we could see real reform in our schools. In community colleges and colleges throughout the country ,students are taking remedial courses for what they didn't learn in high school.SHAME SHAME SHAME!!!!

Next week or next month we'll hear another speech for a program that needs money and Washington will be in our wallets again with a new tax to pay for it all.

I and most citizens think our elected officals in Washington have it all wrong. It is government that needs to be cut and in the next election all those clowns in Washington will find themselves without a job.Citizens are fed up with the way the country is being run and the way it is quickly becoming bamkrupt by ineptness in Washington starting at the top.

I want our elected officals in Washington to sign each bill they passed with their signature acknowledging they have read the bill before signing. The citizens should have access on the web at for at least one week so they can read the 1000+ page bills and comment back. THAT WOULD BE TRANSPARENCY AND WE WILL NEVER HAVE THAT!!

We appreciate the intent and patriotism of the Heritage Foundation. However, as a conservative I am disappointed that our conservative leadership, receives only information from our news sources such as Heritage Foundation (also Rush, Hannity, Laura and Fox) that tells us how bad it is. We know it is bad. We know that our country is at risk. But why do you not want to fix it instead of just ranting about it? We have the system that was the center of the Reagan recovery, called Socrates and the creater/director of that program in Austin trying to find support for reviving Socrates with 21st century technology. Unfortunately after a year of all but begging you to help, we get absolutely nothing in response. The Socrates team knew (an Reagan was also knew) that even in the 1980s, a stymulus package was not enough. We also had to have our own industries able to compete in the global marketplace so that as consumers began to buy, they would be buying from companies that create jobs here at home instead of Japan (today that is China and India). Socrates fixed that by successfully leading the re-capture of the IC and semiconductor technology dominance that fueled our computer industry for 2 decades, creating millions of US jobs and leading to a period of prosperity never before experienced. In the process, Socrates was also responsible for the incredible missle defense (stars wars) that takes out nuclear missles in route and stealth technology that remain far out in front of any military competitors. As a result of our illustrated ability to achieve dominance in any industry at will, the Soviet Union quit as it was obvious they could never compete with Socrates. Unfortunately Bush I defunded the program for political reasons, but Michael Sekora, Leader of the Socrates team under Reagan, is alive and well in Austin trying to get you guys on board. I am confused and disappointed in the conservative movement. We need a solution not more whinning.

Thank you HF for your support of small business. This is exactly what I posted yesterday about the burden of health care on small business owners.

On another matter:

despite Rep. Dingell's sound bite about cap and tax, he actually VOTED FOR IT stating he had to vote for something even though it was far from perfect. Below is part of a letter I sent him following the vote:

"I am disturbed by you vote for the “Cap and Trade” Bill which became the American Clean Energy and Security Act HR 2998. You are on the Congressional record denouncing this as a huge tax burden on society yet you voted for it. I seriously doubt you even read the bill. The tax burden placed on our society leaves me to believe that the bill has less to do with energy or climate and more to do with federal revenue. The hypothesis that our climate is being adversely affected by humans has been debunked. NOAA has demonstrated that solar cycles have more to do with climate than humans. Therefore, with your clear disregard for the science and outward lying to the public about HR 2998 I will NOT vote for you in the next election (if you run again) and in fact will support your opponent financially and publicly."

Who will be hiring these college students you ask? It has been bandied about that a second stimulus may be coming to the aid of small businesses, or not. Or not because instead of using stimulus money, it has been leaked that perhaps TARP money will be used instead. Clever move. If Obama can get away with using TARP money (definitely not its original intent and our money, by the way)for small businesses, he kills two birds with one stone. He gets to dictate which small businesses will survive and he gets a payback from them in the form of their secured votes for him in 2010 and 2012. College students will be offered a similar deal. Obama is the consummate "broker/dealer". The only problem is that he is using money that is ours not his and he is dictating who will receive the money and on what the terms it will be given. You can bet those terms will include the usual "payback" schemes he's famous for.

cookie corej makes a huge assumption that our elected officials will be without jobs after the next election. One could only hope that's the case, however, I would be willing to bet the farm that most of the same slugs who are in office now, voting positively for the socialist agenda, will be back again, doing the same thing.

Wake up America!! It's time to rid ourselves of these do-nothings, and the ballot box is our vehicle for doing so!

Obama's very words declare he is against people trying to further themselves in worth and in case you didn't notice he is destroying self worth and earned value at break neck speed. Why would he want to further the education of any one for what position and what value, when his entire presidency seems to be based on taking earned, self achieved value away and redistributing it to those who don't try????

His Hypocrisy is astounding.

His actions clearly are to take value away from those earning it and creating a system where government leverage is the only word in market value. So what he wants is well educated SLAVES of the state???

The buffoonery is mesmerizing. It is hard to beleive he has anything in his heart but grandstanding and self gratification of seeing his Marxist experiment destroy our historically earned value.

As the wife of a small business owner, I know when government regulations over tax, those who are ultimately punished are the dependent employees.

Entrepreneurs are "do-it-yourself" types of people. When the going gets tough, they rely on their own abilities and efforts to keep their businesses afloat. When operation costs are prohibitive and represent a risk to their company, they cut their workers' hours or jobs and take on the remaining responsibilities themselves.

At this time, we have single parents and primary and secondary wage earners for small families working for our company. MORE taxes on our business will inevitably jeopordize the jobs of these good citizens.

Several of our workers were ardent Obama supporters. What a shame, their champion may soon become their oppressor.

A person can experience being blind for a day by using a blindfold and walking unassisted. The same with being deaf. But tell me how can a man who has never had to work with his hands to feed, shelter and clothe his family, how can this man know what it means to work for less here in America so that others in other Nations can earn more?

Tell me too how a man who has never taken a job that he hates going to each day, that is a mundane job, beneath his education and dignity, belittled by his manager, twenty years his younger, aman who does this each and every day because that job had benefits, including Medical. Good Medical Insurance! How can our President honestly say that he has experienced either of these things! Millions upon millions of honest everyday working Americans do, everyday. Of course at the end of the day they have something that will elude our President forever, Pride. Pride in having done the work themselves, without hand outs. Pride in being an American.

Global warming is a farce. CO2 is not a pollutant any more than Oxygen is, without CO2 there would be no life as we know it on earth. There is no Scientist who can tell us what the exact ideal temperature is for the Earth nor can they tell us what the ideal percentage of CO2 is in the atmosphere.

If they do come up with these ideals will they then say if it’s above these limit’s the government will tax business for CO2 emissions? What will happen if it’s below these limits will they pay business to produce more CO2?

There is no difference between a Socialist, Communist, Liberal, Secular Progressive or a Democrat. They all think that Government is the solution and the People are the problem.

Until "We The People" change our representitives in Washington our country is in for some very bad times.

I'm convinced that Obama does not want to fix the economy yet. He is using the crisis to push through as many of his socialists policies as he can. When he determines it is time to fix the economy, it will have to be socialism.

MICHIGAN: IN EARLY HEARINGS, JOHN DINGELL STATED "CAP & TRADE" IS A TAX. NOW, DINGELL HAS DONE A FULL 180 DEGREES TURNAROUND AND IS SUPPORTING THE PELOSI/WAXMAN POSITIONS. HE CAN NO LONGER SERVE THE PEOPLE OF MICHIGAN SINCE HE IS SO INTENT ON SERVING PELOSI'S SOCIALIST DIATRIBE. GOODBY JOHN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WE WILL HELP YOU LEAVE IN 2010.

The problems with BO and our Congressman is that they don't care what we think. Notice how BO trys to rush everything through. He alreay knows he's going to be a one term PRESIDENT and he's going to make sure he leaves his mark on us. They are going to shove their Liberal/Socialist agenda down our throats until we choak or finally wake up.

The way to cure all of this is to impose Voter Mandated Term Limits for all future elections. If they have served 2 or more terms, KICK THEM OUT, whether they be Congressman, Governors, Mayors or local yokols. The person seeking election can't be any worse than the non-representation that we are all currently experiencing.

"…Off at the knees"? If your figures are only half-right, it's more like the hip. We'll all be a bi-amputated paraplegic without a wheelchair or handicapped access.

It should meanwhile be clear why Sotomayor was nominated. Actually, that person's nomination is (and during normal times would appear) an insult to every senator's intelligence. No President would dare propose such an obvious miscast if he didn't need to. BO's no fool. So, he did this because 1, he thinks he can very probably get away with it, and 2, Ms. Sotomayor will be just the kind of empathetic justice he needs on a close SC when a lot of the things he's going to get passed end up challenged in the courts, as I expect they will. (If FDR's experiences are any indication.)

Our only short-term hope must be to convince as many Democrats as possible to rediscover their self-esteem, courage, patriotism and selfconfidence in opposing these self-destructive policies. How? 1, by making it visible how they, too, will lose once they become mere "subjects" in this system, and 2, convincing them that even erstwhile staunch Republicans will come out in their favor, next election, if henceforth they can demonstrate consistently "doing the right thing". Nothing wrong with helping an incumbent get reelected who finally "saw the light". That's how it should always have been, party / "schmarty".

Is it time to start getting rid of the cazr's russian style?possible to rid off country the imperial presidents and congress too?This is one serf who still believes in freedom from goverment dictates and rule of idiots!Please someone realize it is possible to elect a slave master in a free country ! Hilter was elected !!

Richard,nailed it.besides,the social programs being pushed through,the banks were given billions to shed their bad paper and pad their assets and now are making profits;the unions were taken care of by taking TARP billions to pay union pension/benefits that the automakers did not have;GE and the 'green' groups are lined up for billions in grants and contracts etc etc etc.the people that ran the banks into the ground are still robbing their same companies and the politicians that caused the banking problems are still doing the same things they were doing.jobs are being eliminated in manufacturing insuring nothing will be left but working for the government union jobs.where will money come from to run the corruption in government?the only,hope we have is that the people who elected obama will see what he has done and vote out the incumbents next year.

When will the citizens in the Republic wake up and see what is happening to this country? If these bills pass we can join Venezuela as it seems the American people love dictatorship! Tax and spend? Blame it on the Republicans? The House and Senate have been ruled by the Democratic for years so we should thank them for this mess!

Many Americans are waking up but it is up to us to keep spreading the word. At work, in church, in our communities. We are the protectors of the American way of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Two other Americans who are doing this are Gov. Sarah Palin and former Congressman from Michigan Tim Walberg. Sarah took a stand against out of control government spending in Alaska. She took action by sacrificing for her state and her country. By doing what is right! I applaud her, she is a patriot. Tim Walberg this week announced he will run agaisnt the recently elected ultra left, big spend congressman Mark Schauer. Refusing to accept the destructive practices Schauer is voting for in Congress. When others like these stand up support them anyway you can. Take action every day and fight for your country. Confront Obama when you can. I did yesterday, asking him to read the Declaration of Independance, U.S. Constitution, and Bill of Rights. And to read it without his radical world view. Yes, even he can be won over by such great documents.

Reading some of the info released about the proposed healthcare plan. If it's to be so great and wonderful. Why are the Politicians exempt from having to buy into it. Remember the guy with the largest Ponsi scheme. Well Mr. Obama and the Senate and Congress are trumping his plan by a whole lot.

Oh and when did we get Czars on the payroll. Who do they really answer to?

It is a travisty that our "representatives" are apparently so stipid or greedy that they can't see they are going to destroy the golden goose that makes America such a great land of opportunity. Freedom and Liberty of our Middle Class is being destroyed right before our eyes. The power wielders in the federal government are declaring war against those who have been successful and have decided that Socialism is the answer. Obama promotes class warfare between the less successful and the more successful. His redistribution of wealth is Socialism. Not freedom of choice, not the liberty to be able to follow one's peaceful endevours, but servitude to the Federal Government, through more and more taxes, health care extortion and "energy" blackmail disguised as a fight against a global warming problem that doesn't exist.

Someone with some clout needs to start connecting the dots. Stop looking at the issues as they drop each "bomb" and connect the dots.

Here's a hint to help you along;

In 1970, at one of the Weathermen Underground rallies, Bernadine Dohrn pledged two things; "We will overthrow this imperialist government, and secondly, "we are going to destroy this capitalist system".

While the Weathermen Underground dissolved in the mid-70's Bernadine and Bill Ayers did NOT go away, they got smarter, changed their mantra, and formed a new group called Prairie Fire Organizing Committee. In the manifesto for that group, signed by Dohrn, Ayers, and Jeff Jones they stated; "We have adopted Marxist-Stalinist views and will seek to establish a classless society; communism. We are communists."

Stop looking at each issue at it is hurled at us and connect the dots. Please… we are in serious trouble.

[…] Last week CNS News reported that Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) introduced legislation calling for a $540-billion tax hike to pay for the health plan that President Barack Obama insists will be “deficit neutral.” This tax is a new surtax on households earning $350,000 and above. It starts at 1%, bumping up to 1.5% at $500,000 in income and to 5.4% at $1 million. Since many small business owners fall within this income range, this surtax will also be a huge job killer. […]

This proposal by Obama is another nonsense issue that only a culture that believes they deserve something for nothing exists.

What is more disturbing to me is as in New Orleans where the education level is low and the common sense is non existent the system that will yield these aided students will continue to escalate into what in the 80's was called "social promotion". The roles of schools will be filled the academic level will drop and the government will force society to hire these ill trained and educated individuals in to positions where they make policy. A complete death spiral.

The Obama position is to direct any and all favortism, intervention, and entitlement to the ever growing population of dependent do-nothings that are created by policies of democrats and liberals to keep them in office. Again another aspect to the death spiral.

Keeping the trash is one thing, putting trash in the position to make policy is beyond stupid, we should call it Obampidity

FDR tried to legislate a second bill of rights, but then there were brave citizens who stood up to him and refused to allow America to go down a path that looks and feels remarkably like socialism. It appears that our current president wants to grow government and then wield the big ax of crushing taxation, diminished liberties, rationed health care, and stunted education. The best way for a people to be overtaken and bonded subserviently to a government or rather leaders of that government is to disarm them, relieve them of their assets/money, and produce an uneducated populace. Too many leaders have given lip service to improving education and have thrown a great deal of money at the too politically correct system, but it appears to me that an uneducated population, uncapable of critical thinking and unable to read about the past, is ripe to willingly submit to Obama's agenda without so much as a whimper from many citizens and especially not from those elected officials who are supposed to be represending our interests. Talk about dereliction of duty… The way many of our senators and representatives act like lap dogs to their parties not only scares me, but makes me sick. An uneducation population is easy to control. Throw them a few perky incentives and they will vote acordingly as long as the perks keep coming. They won't even be able to dream of a better future. That would require thinking, planning, and pursuing a better future. People depending on entitlements will begat people depending on entitlements and freedom and independence will perish. When the perks stop, Americans won't know what to do. The government wins and Americans, not among the inner circle of governemnt, will lose.

Health care: To the media czars, do not pretend to speak for the majority unless you have actually interviewed the majority. On the contrary, according to my figures based on the people I have talked to, most people do not want health care controlled by the US government. Polls are easily skewed toward an opinion simply by the population sample. The leaders in government have proved themselves inept repeatedly. If their proposed health care plan is so good, then why is there an exclusion for members of congress? According to my sources, the plan Ted Kennedy is associated with specifically excludes members of congress. I also don't see Mr. Obama setting the example, leading the charge by declaring that he and his family will be bound by government run health care. But rather, I see the president and members of congress behaving as elitists entitled to lavish perks the rest of us will be denied. But, it will be the rest of us who pay for their care. It is a true pity when journalists and other media moguls twist the news in order to further their own agenda or the agenda they must support to retain their jobs. Once upon a time, the nightly news meant just that; now it seems to mean nothing more than an opportunity to propagandize. Same goes for printed media as well.

Let me be clear. I very much want everyone to be insured, but I do not want government employees deciding whether or not my child's life is worth the cost of her health care. I do not want universal government run health care. The potential for fraud and back room deals for health care is too great. Especially among our elected leaders. Just look at all the leaders who are lawbreakers, and then try and convince me that these same criminals should be in control of something as important as health care.

The history I understand does not suport the notion that the government can tax its way into solvency. But, rather crushing taxes are likely to kill American motivation, productivity, ingenuity, and sense of patriotism.

A poorly educationed citizenship, disarmament of the American people, heavy taxation without proper representation, which is what we currently are facing, and health care benefits dependent on the financial stability and benelovence of the US government will result in diminshed liberty. America will become just another ho hum country engendering no respect or symnpathy from other nations. We will be in neither the position to defend ourselves nor other weak nations from the ravages of aggressive entities. American most certainly will not be the "city of the hill" shining light onto the world.

Wish I could share my views with someone who cares and who can do something. Having no voice is so frustrating as I stand by watching the fiasco going on in Washington.

The Obama leadership is acting very predictably biased toward the paranoia stricken leftist dogma. Recently a reliable source determined that the 30B already spent has gone to democratic "friends" of Obama at a rate of two to one over his "non-friends",this makes sense as he will always do the "payback" thing its the democratic/Chicago/Obama way, but now he is really in a dilema he KNOWS that small business is the key to turning this economy around and that he has to do SOMETHING to help get them back in the game but they are overwhemingly republican or conservative democrat and carry the "them" label that the left identifies as the source of all capitalist evil. They are NOT going to get his help simply because his worldview doesn't allow their existence except as

an unlimited resource of capitalist ill gotten gains to be "spread around" to his "friends". Its really not more complicated than that. The economy will not fare well.

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